


Hold On (To Your Heart)

by orphan_account



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Trans Hanzo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:59:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7462218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Modern Day High School AU) Hanzo's life isn't a dream. His parents hate him, he has no friends, and his brother is the favorite child. He never leaves the house, and ditches school all the time. Genji wants him to come out of his shell, and introduces him to his friend group.</p><p>Jesse McCree is loud and boisterous, and he's taken a special interest in the quiet boy. Jesse is determined he can fix the broken and sad Hanzo, even if it means going to hell and back.</p><p>(TW for: Child abuse, transphobic parents. More specifics at the beginning of each chapter.)</p><p>(Discontinued)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steak Knives

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to write a multi chapter thing for 500 years and I'm finally here. Also I'm bad at naming chapters so if you're wondering the chapter titles and even the fic title will be named after Man Man songs/lyrics so they might not make sense. 
> 
> First I need to get a few things out of the way, this is a High School AU. Character age gaps have been made smaller including Hanzo and Genji's. They are now two years apart instead of three. 
> 
> McHanzo will be the main ship this story focuses on but other relationships will be mentioned, maybe play a little more into the story we'll see? I don't think I want to put them into the tags just because they won't play a huge role and I don't want people coming here thinking they're going to get a lot of the other ships and be disappointed when there isn't more than a mention.
> 
> Not all chapters will require trigger warnings, but I will put them at the beginning of each chapter that needs them. 
> 
> TW for this chapter: Child abuse, transphobia, suicidal thoughts

The Shimada household was always hectic in some way, shape, or form. Busy lives lead to busy days and someone was always up and about. Genji had sports practice, and his parents were successful businesspeople that never truly got off work. Work calls, scheduled meetings, work at home, etc.

And then, there was Hanzo.

Hanzo rarely left the house unless he had to, and even then he usually faked sick to stay home from school. It irritated his parents, but they begrudgingly let it slide. He spent most his days holed up in his bedroom, his parents could care less about what he was doing as long as he was staying out of trouble. Genji was the opposite, being out with friends as often as he could.

So Hanzo was alone most the time, he busied himself with reading, video games, drawing, anything he could really. He didn’t sleep a lot, even with the seemingly endless time to be wasted. He didn’t like sleeping, he felt like if he slept too much his entire life would whisk by him and he’d have his eyes closed the entire time.

He came out of his room for dinner and dinner alone, Genji brought food to his room for breakfast and lunch, but there was no avoiding sitting with the family at dinner. Hanzo still kept to himself, even around family. Head down, no eye contact, only speak if spoken to, eat quickly, quietly ask to be excused, run back to his room, end of the night. That was the routine.

His parents barked at him for being so antisocial, “Why can’t you be like your brother?” they shouted, “Your grades are falling, I know you’ve been ditching.” they berated. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” they seethed.

Quiet words, tell them what they want to hear, finish quickly, leave the room. Don’t cry. NEVER cry.

They hated him, he knew that. Try as they might to hide it, they hated him. Normally a child in this situation would ask “why do they hate me?”, but he knew why. They wanted a girl, he wasn’t a girl. He didn’t give them what they wanted.

Hanzo was only a “he” to them until he left the room. They said it when he was in earshot, but as soon as they thought he couldn’t hear.

“It’s your fault she’s like this.”

It hurt, and it stung. But it was a dull pain now. More like blunt force than a stab.

Don’t cry, never cry. Crying was weakness, Hanzo wasn’t weak. At least he told himself that. It didn’t always work out. Sometimes he couldn’t help but cry, and he hated himself for it. Hugging a pillow, burying his face so nobody could hear him. Not like they could over their yelling, not like they’d care if they did hear.

Genji couldn’t hear. Parents fighting, a usual background hum that he had stopped worrying about a long time ago. It was almost drowned out by his loud music anyway. Genji couldn’t hear, yes, but he knew. He knew how routine worked, he knew what triggered what, and he knew how to react to it.

So he would sneak out of his room, quietly down the hall so he wouldn’t alert his parents. He opened the door, he didn’t need to knock, Hanzo knew it was him. Gently shut the door behind him, assess the damage.

Hanzo’s room was messy; piles of clothes that were probably a mix of dirty and clean thrown into corners, various items cluttered the floor, supplies scattered across a desk. The only tidy thing about it was the small area around the TV, where a game console was plugged in and neatly stacked on top of the screen and a small area cleared out in front of it for one to sit.

“Go away…” Hanzo’s voice was barely above a murmur, and raw from tears.

Genji ignored the request and climbed on the bed next to him. Hanzo was buried under at least three different blankets, he scooted over a little bit to allow Genji room but didn’t reject the company. Genji was the only person he truly trusted.

“Can you come out for me?” Genji asked.

Hanzo didn’t respond, but pushed the blankets off his head and sat up. He looked terrible, eyes red and puffy, hair sticking to his face from sweat. Small hiccuping noises escaped his throat, it was clear he was forcing himself to calm down.

“I..s-shouldn’t have ever s...said anything. It should’ve just been you and me and no one else...” Hanzo said. Genji had to strain to hear him but he was used to that by now, Hanzo didn’t like his voice, that’s what he had told Genji.

“Hey you’re a lot braver than I am.” Genji said with a small smile, “I would’ve never had the guts to come out.”  

Hanzo only responded with a small nod, bunching his blankets in his fist as he continued to fight back sobbing. Though Genji’s presence was helping some.

“It’s not all your fault though, they’re just unhappy people.” Genji continued, “They hate each other, hate their lives, so they use you as a scapegoat. That’s not your fault, it’s theirs.”

That didn’t really make Hanzo feel any better, but he nodded again anyway. Genji was trying, at least, he wasn’t going to get mad at him for trying.

“I hate it here…” Hanzo said. He went silent for a moment, then looked at Genji. “Can I tell you something?”

Genji nodded, “Of course.”

“S...sometimes I think about...dying...” He sounded like he was forcing himself to get the words out. “It’s not like...anyone would care...mom and dad would just argue who’s fault it was…I don’t have any friends.”

Genji’s eyes widened at that, “I’d miss you.”

Hanzo snorted, “You’d get over it. You’re fourteen, you’ll get older and forget all about me.”

There was no use arguing with him about it, plus given Hanzo’s current emotional state it probably wasn’t the best idea to argue. He really didn’t know what to say, his mouth opened a few times to respond, but he decided it was a bad idea before it could come out, and closed it again.

“Do you...want friends?” Genji finally said.

Hanzo didn’t respond for a moment, thinking it over in his head. “It’d be nice.”

Genji’s face lit up, “I could introduce you to my friends, I’m sure they’d love you!”

Hanzo squinted at him, “What’s the catch?”

“Well, you’d have to actually come to school. If you ditch all the time nobody’s going to be able to get to know you.” Genji admitted, “But it’s really not that bad, and hey it’d get mom and dad off your back.”

Hanzo nodded quietly, thinking again, “I’m older than you, none of your friends would be in my classes…”

“No, some of them are older! I think you might be in a few of their classes.” Genji said.

More silence, and finally Hanzo let out a small sigh. “Okay.”

Genji grinned, “So you’ll come with me tomorrow?”

A small nod.

“Great!” Genji patted his shoulder, getting up from the bed. He gave a two fingered salute before walking out the door. “See you in the morning, bro!”


	2. Rabbit Habits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I feel like I should clear up what characters will be appearing and how I've sort of translated anything to avoid confusion.
> 
> Genji's friend group would be the Overwatch members (Jack, Gabi, Mercy, Tracer, McCree, and Mei) + Lucio and D.Va. Also in his friend group but sort of as an extension would be Reinhardt and Torbjorn, who in this story are college students. Winston may or may not show up but he is a human and Tracer's adoptive father in this story. 
> 
> Other characters who are not members of Overwatch but have connections to characters who are will be included in this story. (ex. Pharah is not technically part of Overwatch, but she's dating Mercy so she will appear.) 
> 
> I'm avoiding tagging characters at this point before they show up in chapters because I'm not 100% sure if I'll include the planned ones besides the ones I just mentioned, I'm still story lining this all out.
> 
> At this rate the only characters who will definitely not show up are Roadhog, Junkrat, and Bastion. Most others not mentioned here are a maybe. 
> 
> Depending on how things go Zenyatta may or may not appear in this story, but if he did he would also be human. I might include him because of his connection to Genji but I'm writing out Genji's "death" as part of this story to focus on Hanzo so we'll see. 
> 
> No trigger warnings this chapter! This one is basically just Hanzo meeting The Crew tm.

As previously stated, Hanzo never left the house. So when he did, he acted like he was being forced to go and live in the woods for a month with nothing but what he could carry. He had a large coat with many pockets that he would stuff things into. His phone, iPod, snacks, the works. It was winter, but it wasn’t cold enough that he needed something that thick. So he stuck out from a crowd, huddled into himself and avoiding all eye contact.

Genji was more practical, he wore a white hoodie with an orange scarf and that was it. He had his hands tucked into his pocket, skirting the crowd to reach his destination. His friend group had claimed the far corner of the soccer field as their meeting place a while back. It was marked by a nearly dead tree and a park bench in front of it.

Hanzo hadn’t been to school in over a month, he had almost forgotten what a nightmare the start of the day was. Their parents dropped them off early in the morning so they had at least half an hour to kill, but even then the crowd was dense. He would never get used to being around this many people; every time someone so much as brushed against him he’d panic and grab the back of Genji’s shirt. Genji didn’t seem to mind, slowing down when it happened to let Hanzo catch up before continuing to walk.

When they finally made it over to the area the first thing Hanzo heard was the twangy sound of an acoustic guitar. Whoever was playing it didn’t sound like they were very good at it, but none of the other gathered people seemed to mind it. There were five of them, the one playing the guitar was a boy about Hanzo’s age sitting on the ground leaning against the tree. Sitting next to him was a shorter boy with dreadlocks tied into a ponytail and a frog on his shirt. On the bench two other boys, one with a muscular build and short blond hair, the other a little smaller with a black beanie and a scruffy face. Also on the bench was a pretty blond girl, listening intently to the guitar player.

“Come on, man, don’t you know anything other than Wonderwall?” The frog boy said, looking up and making a face.

“Yes!” The guitar player said, sitting up a little straighter with a toothy grin, “I can play Wonderwall faster.” As he said this he began to strum quickly, demonstrating his “talent”.

The frog boy groaned, burying his face in his hands and the girl giggled behind a closed fist.

Hanzo tugged Genji’s sleeve, “Is that them?”

“Some of them, not everyone is here in the mornings,” Genji responded, waving at the small group.

“Hey, Genji!” The blond boy called once they had gotten over there. His gaze shifted from Genji to Hanzo, who had pulled his collar up to his nose and was clinging to the end of Genji’s scarf for dear life. “Who’s your friend?”

Genji wrapped his arm Hanzo’s shoulders, “This is my brother! His name is Hanzo. Hanzo, this is Jack.”

Hanzo glanced at Jack, no eye contact, and nodded a greeting. That was about as far as he was willing to go at this point.

“Your brother? How come I never see him around school?” Jack questioned, leaning forward to get a better look at him. Timid guy, wasn’t he?

“He doesn’t come a lot,” Genji said, not wanting to go into further detail. Hanzo probably wouldn’t appreciate him putting out information like that to someone whom he, at this point, considered a stranger. Even if Genji knew him well, Hanzo didn’t.

The girl looked up at this point, a slightly worried expression on her face. Hanzo; she recalled Genji talking about him before. But for some reason, specifics weren’t readily coming to her memory. Should she be worried? She didn’t think so, Hanzo looked shy but nothing more than that. At least she hoped.

“So, Hanzo.” Genji continued, getting his attention again. “That’s Angela,” pointing to the girl, “Lucio”, the frog boy, “Jesse”, the guitar player, “and Gabi”, the boy in the beanie cap.

Hanzo nodded again and forced a smile at all of them, but didn’t say anything else.

“Does he talk?” Jesse was taking interest at this point.

“Not usually…” Genji admitted.

“Is he mute?” Jesse pressed.

“No, he, just uh…” Genji flipped over in his head how to word what he wanted to say, in a way Hanzo would approve of. It was hard being a translator for someone who didn’t want to speak.

“I don’t like my voice,” Hanzo whispered. All eyes returned to him at the small noise.

Gabi made a confused face, “What’d he say?”

Genji picked at his gloves nervously, “He, uh, doesn’t like his voice.”

Gabi snorted, folding his arms across his chest. “Dumb reason.”

Hanzo stiffened up, turning his gaze at the ground. His face turned red and he pulled his furred hood up to cover it, he knew this was a bad idea. He had known these people for five minutes and they already hated him. Why did he even bother? He should’ve stayed home, maybe he could stay in the nurse’s office and have someone pick him up, anything to get him out of here. His mind was running at a hundred miles a minute and he didn’t even notice when he was starting to hyperventilate.

Angela’s mind also went into a panic mode. Ah, that’s why she should be worried about Hanzo. Genji had mentioned something about abuse, he wasn’t specific about it, probably for privacy reasons. But it did stick in her mind for some time after the conversation about it. She worried for Genji, though he insisted that he was perfectly fine. She didn’t believe him until she made him prove he didn’t have any bruises hidden under his shirt.

So now her worried was turned to Hanzo, currently stiff as a board and sounding like a cornered rabbit. A rabbit, that’s what he reminded her of. A startled rabbit. She quickly turned to Gabi to punch him gently in the shoulder.

“Hey, be nice!” She barked.

Gabi snorted, “Yeah, yeah, sorry.” he mumbled.

Outwardly, he looked apathetic. Inwardly, he felt guilty his useless comment had sparked whatever was currently happening.

Genji looked at Hanzo with wide eyes, _“Oh god please don’t start crying.”_ , he thought.

“Hey, hey, he was just teasing you,” Genji said, rubbing his shoulder to try and bring him back into the present. “Come on, buddy, you’re fine.”

Hanzo steadied his breathing, god what a mess. God, he was pathetic, breaking down at a simple joking comment like that. Maybe he should just drop the whole “friends” thing, he had already made a fool of himself. So much for first impressions. 

Angela opened her mouth to say something, but the bell rang before she could get it out. Everyone started packing up their things on instinct, briefly forgetting the meltdown. Hanzo’s head flipped around to stare at the school building; already?

“Hey, I have to go.” Genji said to Hanzo, “I can’t walk you to class, the freshmen classrooms are way far off from the junior's. Jesse’s a junior, though, do you want him to walk with you? Only if you need it.”

Hanzo looked at the guitar player, the instrument was now strung over his back as he shoved papers and notebooks sloppily into a letterman bag. He looked back at Genji and nodded, he didn’t think he could survive that kind of crowd alone.

“Alright, see you at lunch,” Genji said, smiling reassuringly. “Take care of him, Jesse.”

Jesse got up and walked over, brushing snow off his ass along the way. Christ was he taller than he looked sitting down. “Yeah, don’t worry. I’m a grade A escort.” He flexed for emphasis.

He motioned for Hanzo to follow him, and the two headed off in the direction of the junior classes without another word.

Jack and Gabi had already left at that point, only Angela remained. She put her hand on Genji’s shoulder, staring him in the eye “Meet me at lunch, we need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for reading! Next chapter actual interaction between Jesse and Hanzo, I promise.


	3. Piranhas Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter this time haha, kind of wanted to get all the events of one day into one chapter so that's why. Most of them won't be this long probably but if I can help it I'll try to put out long ones.
> 
> Anyway, no trigger warnings this chapter! Hanzo has his first day back at school and the rest of the crew is introduced.

The journey to class was filled with awkward silence. For the most part, Hanzo was checking out Jesse, he hasn’t been able to pay much attention to his appearance while at the tree. He was tall, dark skinned, and chubby; brown shoulder length hair was tied back into a short ponytail and his scruffy face made it look like he had lost his razor. He was dressed like a farm hand, plaid button up shirt tucked into baggy jeans held up by a belt with a comically large buckle with the letters “BAMF” written across it. He smelled like cigarette smoke, which made Hanzo scrunch up his nose.

He seemed friendly enough, though, and Hanzo definitely wasn’t afraid of him. He was silly and unintimidating, which was a good thing.

“You know where your classes are?” Jesse said, looking at the smaller boy.

Hanzo nodded, he hadn’t been there in a month but his mind was a steel trap. That seemed to work against him most the time, though. Jesse waited for further clarification, he wasn’t surprised when it never came.

“Can you show me?” He continued, stopping in the middle of the hallway to let Hanzo answer.

Hanzo nodded again, though made no motion to lead the way. Jesse would’ve been frustrated, but it was fine, he’d figure this out. He was patient...sometimes.

“I need you to lead me there if you aren’t going to tell me,” Jesse said.

Another nod and Hanzo grabbed Jesse’s sleeve before leading him down the hallway. The sudden motion did startle him a bit, but he wasn’t complaining. Hanzo lead him down the side of the hallway and finally stopped in front of the door. Ah, English.

“Hey, you share a class with me,” Jesse said, peeking through the doorway. “You wanna sit together?”

Sharing a class? Part of Hanzo wanted to be left alone, he wanted to huddle up in the very back corner, wait out the day, and meet back up with Genji again for lunch. Another part of him...wouldn’t mind the company. He was here to try and make friends, right?

Hanzo tugged on Jesse’s sleeve, pointing to the corner of the room, where he had been planning on sitting anyway. He wouldn’t accept anywhere else.

“So I’ll take that as a yes?” Jesse said, looking to where he was pointing.

Hanzo was already rushing over there, determined to claim it before anyone else could. He tucked himself into the seat, unzipping his coat to get at the bag that was obscured by the large piece of clothing. To the unknowing eye, it would look like his coat was Mary Poppin’s magic bag. From it, he produced a notebook, a pen, a folder, and a bag of Skittles. He zipped his coat back up and leaned over the desk to work.

By time Hanzo was set up for the period Jesse was just sitting down, he had watched Hanzo do his preparation and whistled a little.

“Wow, what else are you keeping in there? Your cat?” He joked.

Hanzo looked up at him in acknowledgment, but other than that there was no reaction.

Jesse frowned, “Not even a smirk…?”

The bell rang, signaling the end of the passing period, and the door to the class slammed shut. The class went silent besides a few people trying to continue their conversations in whispers, but they were quickly silenced by the teacher.

Jesse leaned over, “Teacher here’s super strict. Don’t get on her bad side if you can help it.”

Hanzo knew that already, he wasn’t brand new. He nodded in agreement anyway, but he knew he was already on her bad side. His skipping class every day wasn’t exactly a secret, and he could tell she had noticed him by the way she was squinting at the back corner. He had gotten used to teachers scolding him for absences by now, and tried to ignore it as best as he could.

Jesse kicked his feet up on the chair of the empty desk in front of him, whistling as he watched the teacher pass out papers. The near silence of the room was making Hanzo worry more than he should; was there something he was missing?

Jesse glanced over, raising a brow as he noticed Hanzo was stiffening up again. Was he scared of paperwork, too? Actually, he didn’t think he could blame him for that one.

“It’s a test day,” he mumbled, getting Hanzo’s attention. “You got nothin’ to worry about, pretty sure she’s not gonna give you a test on something you never learned.”

Well, that would explain the quietness. Hanzo let himself relax, making a noise of acknowledgment at him. As expected, he was skipped over.

“Nice to have you here,” she said, then turned her gaze to Jesse with a glare. “Feet on the floor, Mr. McCree.”

Jesse grinned, “Just Jesse is fine, ma’am, no need for formalities.”

She rolled her eyes at him, pulled the chair out from under his feet, and slapped the paper on the desk. Hanzo guessed Jesse had gotten on her bad side long ago.

Being as he had nothing better to do, Hanzo spent the class period mindlessly passing the time. He doodled in the margins of his notebook, and at one part considered taking a nap. That might get him in trouble, though, so he quickly disregarded the thought.

Jesse never did well on tests, Fareeha always got on him about studying but he never actually did it. He half-assed just about everything he did, but he always pulled through in the end; at least it hadn’t failed him yet.

He looked over from his test to watch Hanzo scribble weird snakes all over his papers.

“You like dragons? Fantasy n’ stuff?” Jesse asked, realizing what the “snakes” were supposed to be.

Hanzo moved his arm to cover his paper, not giving any sign of a response. Jesse continued anyway.

“More of a wild western guy myself.” He said, forming a finger pistol and making “pchew” sounds at the whiteboard.

Hanzo just stared at him, expressionless. The fact the bottom half of his face was obscured by his fluffy collar didn’t help any. Jesse’s big grin immediately fell.

“Rough audience…” he muttered, turning back to his paper.

Did this kid react to anything? He felt like he’d get more response from a plant. Maybe he was actually a bunch of lizards stuffed under that jacket with a mannequin head. Jesse snorted to himself at the ridiculous idea. Though he did wonder exactly what was wrong with Hanzo. It didn’t really make sense, Genji was so outgoing and talkative. Surely some of that must’ve rubbed off on Hanzo somehow? They were only two years apart, that wasn’t enough time for Hanzo to form his own separate personality.

Maybe they were separated, a divorce situation where each one took their favorite kid and then they made up years later. Maybe Hanzo wasn’t really his brother, or maybe he was adopted. Jesse’s mind kept coming up with hundreds of scenarios, some were more out there than others. “Maybe Hanzo was a science experiment gone wrong,” being among them.

Whatever the reason, Jesse didn’t like it. Hanzo didn’t look apathetic, or that he didn’t understand what Jesse was saying. He just looked...sad. Like he couldn’t even find enough joy in his life to smile at a joke, even for a second.

Jesse didn’t like it, he didn’t like it at all. Was there something he didn’t know about? Genji didn’t keep secrets, if there was something going on he probably would’ve heard about it.

Jesse didn’t even realize he was staring until Hanzo started shrinking away. He snapped out of it pretty quickly after that, returning his standard goofy grin to try and reassure the smaller boy. Hanzo didn’t seem to take to it, but he did go back to drawing in his notebook, which was better than nothing.

The rest of the class period was uneventful, Jesse was too busy stewing to try and interact with Hanzo; Hanzo didn’t seem to mind. Jesse was friendly enough, and he seemed to be trying. But, in his heart of hearts, Hanzo wasn’t sure he wanted it.

He knew it was bad, and he knew Genji would be disappointed if he just shoved off Jesse forever and never even tried to get close, but he was scared. Genji was the only person he trusted, and he trusted him because, in all his years of knowing him, he had never done anything to hurt him.

Jesse? He didn’t know him at all, Genji’s approval wasn’t enough for him. There had to be something more to it, something that would eventually come back to bite him. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t want to find out.

The bell rang, and Jesse packed his things. Hanzo gathered up his items in a sweep of his hand, stuffing them haphazardly into his bag.

“See you at lunch?” Jesse asked, a hopeful smile on his face.

Hanzo stared at him again, and Jesse was about ready to drop it, thinking he’d never get anywhere with him. But Hanzo gave a tiny, barely noticeable nod, and Jesse was thrilled.

“Great, have Genji show you where we sit.” He said, before leaving the class, and Hanzo, behind.

* * *

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Hanzo had no more classes with Jesse, and he didn’t recognize anyone in his other classes. Jack, Gabi, and Angela were seniors, Lucio was a freshman, he knew he wouldn’t share any classes with them, but he did have a little bit of hope for it.

Three more classes before lunch, each one Hanzo stuffed himself into the farthest back corner of the room; no eye contact, don’t let anyone know you exist. There was a nice girl in one of his classes, who probably decided he looked lonely and decided to sit next to him. He didn’t appreciate the unwanted company, but he didn’t outright reject the girl. She was just trying to be nice, he guessed.

Her hair was done up in a bun and she wore large glasses, she frequently asked him if he needed help with the work, complimented his drawings, and told him his jacket was cute. Hanzo just smiled and nodded at all of it. She didn’t seem to mind he didn’t talk to her at all and granted his unspoken wishes of personal space.

He liked her, she was nice. He didn’t ever catch her name, and he never gave his, but he hoped she came back to sit with him again tomorrow. But other than that one incident, he was uninterrupted in his quest to sulk in private.

Lunch couldn’t come soon enough, and Hanzo was nearly running to the cafeteria. Thankfully, Genji was standing outside the doors, scanning the crowd for his brother. He waved his arm when he spotted him, signaling Hanzo to come over.

“Hey, you survived!” He chirped, taking Hanzo’s hand and leading him along. “The rest of my group is here if you want to meet them.”

Hanzo didn’t know if he could handle that much interaction right now, but he nodded anyway. “Yeah, sounds great.”

Genji lead him to one of the outside benches in the courtyard. Since it was winter, and snowing, the courtyard was pretty much deserted. Only a few groups who refused to let the cold ruin their fun, and some people who preferred the peace and quiet.

Genji continued to lead him to the most crowded table, to the point a few people were sitting on the floor against the wall. The five people from that morning were there, along with a few more. Among them, a girl dressed in a baggy pink jacket with the words “This Is the Dark Souls of Jackets” emblazoned across the front in black lettering, a sporty girl with messy hair and goggles hanging around her neck, sitting next to her another girl who looked straight out of a Vogue magazine. Angela was also sitting with someone unfamiliar, she had dark braided hair tied with gold bands and a tattoo around her eye (that looked painful to get). To Hanzo’s surprise, the girl from his class before was also there, sitting next to a giant with pink hair.

Jesse, the heathen, was among the people sitting on the ground. He had his jacket covering his face and his hands folded over his stomach like he was trying to take a nap. Hanzo decided to take a seat next to him since he was the only person here he knew besides Genji. Genji was surprised at his decision to sit on the ground, but he didn’t hesitate in following suit.

Jesse pulled his jacket down so his eyes were uncovered, glancing down at Hanzo. “You did come!” He said cheerfully.  
  
Hanzo just nodded, folding his legs and stuffing his hands between them so they were hidden. The bun and glasses girl from before looked at Hanzo, seemingly bewildered.

“That’s Hanzo?” she said, looking at Genji for clarification.

“Mmhm,” Genji responded, he had been preparing his introduction speech since that morning, considering the last one didn’t go so well. “He doesn’t talk a lot, and he probably won’t respond well to a lot of people talking to him at once.”

The glasses girl shook her head, “No, no I know that! I had a class with him today.” She reached her hand out to Hanzo, “I don’t think I told you my name, I’m Mei-Ling! But you can just call me Mei.”

Hanzo looked at her hand, slowly untucking his own from his leg bundle and taking it. He shook it slowly, trying not to be too awkward with it. He didn’t think he succeeded with that. Mei didn’t seem to mind, though, taking her hand back and carrying on as if nothing unusual had happened.

Hanzo looked to Genji again for names, who was more than happy to oblige.

“Aleks,” the pink giant, “Hana,” Dark Souls, “Amelie” Vogue, “Lena” goggles, “and Fareeha” eye tattoo.

Hanzo nodded in understanding, but didn’t make an effort to greet the newcomers. He just tucked his hands back in his legs, trying to keep himself warm.

Jesse leaned over to mumble to him, “Keep on Aleks’s good side, she’s on the wrestling team.”

Lucio, who was sitting on the ground next to him, punched him in the shoulder. “Hey, don’t scare him!” Lucio looked at Hanzo, “Don’t listen to him, man, Aleks wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“I’d break a bear’s spine,” Aleks responded, glaring over at the group. “Like a twig.”

Noticing Hanzo’s discomfort, Mei piped up. “She’s joking! Don’t worry, she’s joking.”

Hanzo doubted it, that didn’t look or sound like a joke. But he went with it, not wanting to anger her more. Jesse laughed to himself, pulling his jacket back up over his face. There must’ve been something Hanzo wasn’t getting here.

Either way, he didn’t speak up for the duration of the hour, content with eating his food in silence. Genji busied himself talking to Hana, something about Pokemon, Hanzo wasn’t paying attention. Jesse was either asleep or trying to sleep, and he didn’t really want to talk to anyone else present.

Angela didn’t talk a lot either, she was picking at her food, staring at Hanzo with a tight frown.

“Angela, you’re making a mess,” Fareeha said, snapping her fingers in Angela’s face to bring her back to reality.

Angela blinked a few times, “Ah, sorry...just spaced out.” She said, giving a gentle smile.

Fareeha wasn’t convinced, raising a brow. “That’s the kid you were telling me about, yeah?”

Angela sighed, letting the facade fall. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“What’s his story?” Fareeha asked, looking at the boy on the ground as well.

“That’s the thing, I don’t know,” Angela admitted, shoulders slumping. “Genji won’t tell me anything, and I’m pretty sure Hanzo wouldn’t consent to me inspecting him for any bruises or wounds.”

She twirled her fork around absentmindedly, she really didn’t know what to do here. Obviously she couldn’t just let something like this go, clearly, Hanzo was traumatized from something. But she didn’t know what, and she didn’t know how to find out. And even if she did find out, what would she do with that information? Let it be a fun factoid and never bring it up again? She couldn’t report it, it’d probably just get Hanzo in even more trouble, maybe drag Genji into it too since he was the one that talked about it in the first place. There was just too many “ifs” here.

“Can’t he tell you? Genji, I mean.” Fareeha said, folding her arms on the table, “Obviously he cares about what’s happening if he told you about it. I doubt he’d withhold anything that could help Hanzo get help.”

Angela remembered she told Genji to talk to her at lunch, but it seemed like he’d forgotten about it; considering how he hadn’t even said hi to her. Unless...he was avoiding it?

“Maybe...I’m just worried.” She muttered, turning her gaze toward Genji’s direction.

Fareeha nudged her shoulder, “Go ask him, it can’t hurt.”

Angela sighed, getting up from her seat and walking over to Genji. She tapped his shoulder, “Genji, can I see you for a minute?”

Genji didn’t look up at first, eyes glued to his 3DS, “One second Hana’s giving me her shiny Charmander.”

“Genji, please, it’s important.” Angela insisted, giving an apologetic look to Hana.

“You better go talk to mom, Genji.” Hana teased, “I can transfer it to you later.”

Angela didn’t really approve of the nickname “mom”, even though she’d been stuck with it for a while. It did fit, she wouldn’t lie, but it made her feel like an old lady. Genji put the 3DS in his pocket, getting to his feet.

“Alright, what’s up?”

Angela took his arm, leading him away from the group. Once she was out of earshot from them, she released him, leaning over to speak in a hushed voice.

“I need you to tell me about Hanzo, I won’t tell him or anyone else anything you said to me unless you want me to.” She said, “This is very important, please don’t lie to me.”

Genji would’ve been shocked, but he was expecting that he had to come clean at some point. He sighed, running a hand through his spiked up hair, trying to figure out how to word himself.

“Things are...complicated at home, yanno?” He began, “Mom and dad uh, are...disappointed in him. He locks himself up in his room all day and whenever he comes out they’ll find some reason to yell at him. It really wears him down, which is, uh, why he doesn’t come to school.”

Angela nodded, taking mental notes, “Is it just yelling? Have they ever hit him?”

“Hit him? No, no they don’t hit him. Just a lot of uh, yelling. They talk behind his back a lot, but the walls aren’t soundproof, so that hurts his feelings.” He continued, shifting uncomfortably.

“That’s it?” Angela asked, “Nothing else? Substance abuse, self harm? Suicidal thoughts? Again, I won’t say a thing. I’m just trying to help.”

“He, uh, did talk about killing himself...last night...which is why I brought him to school. I thought if he was less lonely he’d put more value on his life…” Genji looked Angela in the eye for this one, “Don’t...tell anyone about that, please? I know you said you won’t but...most people report that kind of thing. I really don’t want him locked up or put in therapy, it’d only make things worse.”

Angela made the sign of the cross, “You have my word.” she said, “But is that it? Is there anything you aren’t telling me?”

“No, that’s it,” Genji said, which was a lie. Of course, there was more going on than what he stated, but it wasn’t something he could just put out there. “Just you and me and no one else.” , that’s what Hanzo had said the night before, and Genji was determined to keep that statement true, for Hanzo’s sake.

Angela seemed satisfied with the answer, “Alright, thank you for telling me, Genji.” she said, taking his hand in hers. “And please, if anything ever escalates, call me. I’ll get you two out of there.”

Genji smiled back at her, “Truly you are a mom.”

“Don’t call me that.” She said, though she was stifling a laugh.

* * *

Lunch ended without anything else of note, and Hanzo was off to his next class. He wondered if Jesse would walk with him again, but he told him that he had a free period and was going off campus to spend it. That made Hanzo a little upset, but he could deal with it.

Well, he could deal with it until he remembered what class he had next.

Hanzo froze up in the middle of the hall as the realization hit him: P.E. P.E, as in, where he had to change his clothes, as in, where he had to go into the girl’s locker room. As in, where people would see him.

Hanzo felt like he was going to have his second meltdown of the day, grabbing the sides of his head and yanking at his hair. No, no there had to be a way out of this. Could he ditch and go hang out with Jesse? Could he even find Jesse? Hide out under the bleachers, maybe? He wanted to call Genji to get some sort of escape plan figured out, even if it was on the spot. But he couldn’t reach down to grab his phone for some reason, his body wouldn’t let him.  
  
Oh god he couldn’t think of any way this could possibly go right, someone in the group would find out, that someone would rat him out, everyone would shun him, and there went everything. Christ, what if they decided to abandon Genji too for having someone like him as his brother? It’d be all his fault.

He didn’t notice someone shaking his shoulder, he was zoned out to the world and trapped in his own nightmare fantasy.

“Hanzo?” A girl’s voice, familiar? He knew that voice. “Hanzo, honey, can you hear me?”

“Is he having a stroke or something?” A second voice, he didn’t recognize that one. He couldn’t even figure out what exactly was going on, why were they talking to them? Was he dead? No, couldn’t be, dead people wouldn’t ask about strokes.

Angela was shaking Hanzo, trying to be gentle and not hurt him, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Hanzo? Hanzo!”

Fareeha watched this all go down, she was afraid if she stepped in she’d break his arm on accident or something. “Should we get a nurse?” she asked.

“No, no, he was doing that this morning. He’s having some sort of breakdown, I think I can calm him down.” Angela said, continuing the snapping, this time in his ear. “Hanzo, tell me what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

He started making a squeaking noise, they were getting somewhere, at least he was responding.

“Speak up, sweetie, I can’t hear you,” Angela said, this time, both hands were on his shoulders, leaning in to hear him better.

“C-can’t...change my clothes…” he said, voice strained.

That set off too many alarms in Angela’s head, she looked to Fareeha, who was wide eyed as well, having been told what Genji had said. Genji said he wasn’t hit, though? Oh god, was he lying? He said he’d give her the full truth!

Angela grabbed Hanzo’s arm, starting to lead him off, “Come with me real quick, I promise you’ll be fine.”

Hanzo followed, but he was still in a daze. Too dazed to panic about what was happening, or even react to it besides moving his feet so he wouldn’t fall over. The girls lead him to behind the small building that served as the ticket counter for sports events, the area behind it was almost completely blocked off by brick walls and it was a good hiding spot.

Angela sat Hanzo down on the ground, kneeling in front of him. Faheera stayed standing, keeping guard in case a teacher came over; they were technically ditching, even if it was for a reason. Angela gently took Hanzo’s coat off, and removed the book bag from his waist, until he was sitting there in nothing but a dirty blue t-shirt.

“Hanzo, this is very important. I don’t know if you can understand me but I’m going to need to take off your shirt, okay?” Angela said, already reaching down to pull the article of clothing off him.

Hanzo didn’t register all of what she said, but he did hear “take off your shirt”, and that sent him into an even more blind panic. He tried to push Angela away, repeatedly muttering “nonono” under his breath. That backfired, only serving to make Angela even more worried.

“Hanzo I really need you to cooperate with me, please.” She said, frantically trying to get a hold of Hanzo’s shirt, only to be pushed away.

Angela was fearing the worst, in her head she had this image of broken ribs and whiplashes across his stomach. The thought only propelled her to try harder, if it was so bad he couldn’t even let her try to take off his shirt, it must’ve been horrible, oh god why didn’t Genji tell her about-

Oh.

That’s why.

She had fought off Hanzo’s shirt, which was now balled in her hand as she sat there. Hanzo was absolutely terrified, eyes wide as dinner plates and trying to cover up as much as he could with his arms, shaking violently, tears threatening to spill over.

Ace bandages were wrapped around his chest, there were no wounds, no broken bones and slashed skin like Angela was fearing. Though there was bruising around where the bandages were, clearly from being too tight.

That...would explain a lot of things. Things were clicking together in her head now, he didn’t like his voice (probably thought it was too feminine), parents abused him (didn’t approve), hiding out from school all the time (didn’t want to be made fun of). Everything made sense to her now, but she was relieved that Hanzo wasn’t gravely injured.

Fareeha looked over after hearing the commotion. She didn’t say anything, made a small noise of “oh”, and that was it.

Hanzo, while being physically fine, looked like they were holding him at gunpoint. He was desperately reaching for his shirt, but gave up on that and snatched his coat instead, wrapping it tightly around his body and pulling the hood up.

Great, he blew it. He blew it, he blew it! Now they knew, they’d go tell everyone, he’d never be able to show his face in public again. Might as well off himself, there was no way he had anything to live for now.

_“Sorry Genji, you tried to help, it’s my fault.”_

There was complete silence over the trio for a minute, Angela felt awful. Here she was thinking Hanzo was hiding horrible wounds...and he probably wouldn’t forgive her for this. She heard him start hiccuping, and knew she messed up bad.

“Uhm, Hanzo…” she said, very quietly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” Hanzo started repeating, kicking backward to try and smash himself up against the wall as much as he could.

“No, Hanzo you’re okay.” She said, trying to be gentle as she could. “It’s just, uh….those bandages-”

Hanzo stiffened up more, breathing heavy. Oh god he didn’t think he could take anything right now, everything leading up to that point was so overwhelming, he might have a heart attack.

“They’ll warp your spine, and really mess up your ribs, you shouldn’t wear them.” She finished, trying her best to calm him down.

Hanzo blinked, he was no longer hyperventilating, the urge to cry suddenly vanished. He tugged at the hood slightly, so he could see Angela’s face.

“W...warp my spine?” he parroted, trying to make sure he had heard right.

“Yes, see they, contract when you breathe,” Angela continued, okay this was good he had stopped shaking at least. “It compresses your chest, and can cause a lot of long run damage. My, uh, parents are doctors.”

Hanzo looked at Angela, then to Fareeha, and back to Angela. “Y...you aren’t going to yell at me?”

Angela smiled, “No, no. I promise I won’t yell at you.” She reached out, gently taking Hanzo’s hand in her own, rubbing her thumb across the back of it soothingly. “Nobody has to know about this, okay? I promise I won’t tell anyone. I didn’t mean to do this, I'm sorry for stressing you out. I thought you were hurt.”

Hanzo stared at her hand, honest to god bewildered on what was happening right now. He nodded, not knowing what else to say.

“But I do need you to stop wearing those bandages. I can buy you a binder, I’ll just tell my parents it’s for a friend. Can you do that for me?”

Hanzo didn’t look up from the ground, nodding once, but not saying anything.

Angela smiled, “Thank you. Here’s your shirt, your coat will be able to hide anything for the rest of the day. I can try to get you out of P.E, too, that’s what you were worried about, right?”

Hanzo nodded again, putting his shirt back on and bundling himself up again. He was probably going to think about this and regret it later, but he reached out and tightly hugged Angela, close enough that he could whisper into her ear.

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading! Next chapter will take a little bit longer to get out but I'll get it up as soon as I can!
> 
> Also the quip about Fareeha getting on Jesse about studying will be explained later in the story. ;3c


	4. Deep Cover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say here thank you for all the kind words and comments!! I don't usually reply to comments just because I'm shy about it but I appreciate it a lot! I'm glad people like my self indulgent gay fanfiction :'3c
> 
> No trigger warnings this chapter.

The trip home was uneventful, per usual Hanzo was silent during the car ride. Genji on the other hand was babbling away about some game coming up, which was good to keep their mother distracted from Hanzo.

Hanzo had his cheek pressed to the window, thinking about the events of the day. So far he had made a list of people he believed he could trust and people he was wary of. The “wary” list was much longer than the “trust” list. On the wary list, included Aleks (he was terrified of her), Gabi (the comment from the morning had stuck with him), and to a lesser extent Amelie (intimidating); among others. On his trust list, Mei, Angela, and Jesse. That was it. Fareeha he was on the fence about, and the rest he was mostly neutral on.

The car stopped, causing Hanzo to bump his head against the window from the sudden jolt. He grunted, rubbing the spot where it’d hit while climbing out of the car. He walked in, and made a beeline to his room. He didn’t say hi to his father, didn’t stop to get food, he just wanted to be alone.

His mother scoffed, “Had a bad day, I’m guessing?” she said to Genji.

Genji looked up the stairs at the closed door, “I think he’s just tired.” he replied.

Up in his room, Hanzo _was_ tired. He was exhausted _,_ in fact. He took off his coat and put away his bag, emptying the contents of both onto the desk and dropping the coat on his bed. He had taken off the bandages in the bathroom right after Angela had asked him to, and looking at himself in the mirror made him feel more horrible about himself than usual. On second thought, he put the large coat back on; that way he wouldn’t have to look at it.

He plopped down on his bed, hugging himself and staring at the wall. He was still processing the events of the day; he did trust Angela to keep her word and Fareeha didn’t seem like she would go around spreading gossip, but he was still paranoid about other things. Things like now that he was actually going to school would his parents get on his back about grades more? He really hoped not. He also wasn’t sure he could take that crowd every day, but he expected he’d get used to it over time.

And...Jesse.

For whatever reason, Jesse couldn’t leave his mind. He didn’t know why. So he shared a few classes with him, so what? That wasn’t enough to warrant this much thought about him; he shared classes with lots of people. Jesse seemed...different though. Why did Jesse seem different? It couldn’t have been just because he was nice to Hanzo, but then again Mei had shown him the same treatment and he wasn’t stewing on her.

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at his door, he rolled over to look at it, “Come in.”

Genji walked in, holding a plate with a sandwich on it in his hand. “Brought you food.” he said.

Hanzo sat up, taking it from him and nodding thanks. Genji shut the door behind him, sitting on the bed next to Hanzo while he ate.

“So, what’d you think?” he said, grinning. “You like them?”

Hanzo nodded, “Yeah, they’re fine.” he said, trying to force the instinct to pick at his food away.

Genji seemed excited to hear that, “I’m glad! So you think you w-”

“Genji.” Hanzo interrupted, looking him in the eye to speak. “What, exactly, did you tell Angela?”

Genji’s face immediately fell. Hanzo knew he must’ve said something to her; the average person wouldn’t hear “I can’t take off my clothes” and think injury, they’d think insecurity. But Angela right away assumed he was hurt, and he didn’t think it was all chalked up to having the personality of a worried mother.

“Angela? Why? Did you run into her?” Genji said, trying to hide the fact he was playing dumb. Shit! She told him she wouldn’t say anything! But she had never lied to him before, what could’ve prompted her to tell him?

“Don’t lie to me, I know you said something.” He sounded angry, and also a little hurt. “She came up to me and made me take my shirt off when I told her I didn’t want to change out for P.E. because she thought I was hurt. You don’t just do that normally.”

Genji bit down on his tongue. _Dammit,_ he thought. He should’ve known Angela would think he was lying about the physical abuse; she’d done it to him too. Then it clicked with him why that was so bad, and his eyes widened.

“Oh god, so she…” he said, trailing off.

Hanzo nodded, “She knows, she promised not to tell anyone…”

Genji pulled at his hair, groaning. “Oh, god, Hanzo. I’m so sorry. She just, wanted to know if you were okay because you acted so weird and I just, told her they yelled at you. I didn’t think she’d take it that far.”

Hanzo didn’t have anything to say to that, going back to focusing on his food.

“S’that why you’re wearing that jacket?” Genji asked, “You look hot…”

“Yes, and I’m fine.” Hanzo said, voice going quiet again. “She made me stop wearing the bandages, said it’ll hurt me. She’s getting me a binder, though.”

Genji dug more into his scalp, biting his lip. Christ, he fucked up bad. He didn’t know if he could get Hanzo dragged back to school now. He was like a turtle; the smallest thing could get him to retreat completely and never want to try what had caused it again. And this wasn’t a small thing.

In an effort to salvage it, Genji switched the conversation. “So uh, you seem to like Jesse?”

Hanzo paused, frowning. “...Guess so.”

“He nice to you?” Genji asked, which was responded with another nod. “You know sometimes we, uh, go to the park after school...or other places, yanno. Would you want to come with us sometime?”

A pause, staring at his half-finished sandwich, thinking it over. It did beat staying up in his room all the time, and he didn’t really like the whole “only interaction is at school” thing; especially considering he hated it there.

“Sounds fun…” he mumbled, stuffing the remainder of his food into his mouth.

Genji took that as an agreement, and the rest of the time was silent. Hanzo enjoyed the company, it was nice to just have someone else in the room with him sometimes. At one point he fell asleep, and Genji left during that time.

For once, he slept well.

* * *

The next morning was quiet; in more ways than one. Due to a meeting their parents had Hanzo and Genji had been dropped off even earlier than usual; so early it was still slightly dark outside when they got there. Genji didn’t appreciate being woken up so early, and when the two headed over to their meeting place (them being the first ones there), he immediately laid down in the grass to try and take a nap before class started.

Hanzo on the other end was very on edge. It was the first time in months he had gone out of the house without binding his chest, and even with his thick clothes he was afraid someone would notice. Angela wasn’t there yet; would she keep her promise? When would she get here?

Genji noticed Hanzo’s discomfort, opening one eye to look up at him.

“Something wrong?” he said, rolling over from his stomach to his back to get a better look at him.

“Nervous…” Hanzo replied, staring at the parking lot; the cars indistinguishable from where they were sitting. Why would it even benefit him even if it was? He didn’t know what Angela’s car looked like.

“S’ about Angela? Don’t worry, she hasn’t lied about anything yet.” Genji smirked, “Don’t think she has the ability to, she might die if she ever told a lie.”

Hanzo nodded wordlessly, still watching for cars, watching for the sunrise. It was deathly silent this time of day, too late for crickets and too early for birds. The only thing breaking the silence was the occasional soft bang of car doors opening and closing and the hushed conversations of the few people on campus. It was peaceful, almost. Hanzo wouldn’t mind living in this state forever.

Hanzo honed in on Genji’s breathing, and his own breathing. Genji had closed his eyes again, and was rolled onto his side facing away from him. The presence comforted him, grounded him to reality. If it wasn’t for him Hanzo might’ve thought he had entered some Twilight Zone dimension.

He heard the click of a car door, flipping his his head around to see it. He didn’t expect much, but it wouldn’t hurt to look. Three people filed out of the white compact car; it was too dark for Hanzo too make out many details but he did spot a golden blond ponytail on the shortest of the three. They fussed over a jacket on the second tallest of them, and Hanzo knew: Angela.

He didn’t make any movement to wave her over, she’d come on her own. Plus he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself. He couldn’t quite make out who the other two people were as well and that added to his discomfort of making it seem anything more than casual. His bright idea for avoiding confrontation was to pull his hood up and tuck his chin to his chest so his face was hidden. He wasn’t really sure how that’d help anything; but it worked for making him feel safer, at least. He tensed up when he felt someone sit next to him, knowing for a fact it wasn’t Genji.

“You’re here early.” That was Jesse’s voice. Hanzo let himself relax.

“So are you,” Genji replied, “Mom busy again?”

“She’s always busy,” Fareeha’s voice replied, “This is routine for us, you know this.”

That statement caused Hanzo some confusion, poking his head out to look. Jesse was sitting next to him, this time the guitar was absent; Fareeha was sitting on the bench, a notebook in her lap. Where was Angela?

“For….us?” Hanzo said, squinting confusedly at the two.

“Yeah? We’re siblings.” Jesse said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, it wasn’t; Jesse and Fareeha couldn’t look more different.

“Siblings.” Hanzo repeated. It wasn’t a question, more of a confused statement.

Fareeha rolled her eyes, “Christ, he always does this. He’s adopted.” She clarified, “He thinks it’s funny to confuse people.”

Jesse snorted, “Hey, don’t ruin the fun. He would’ve gotten it eventually, anyway.”

Oh, that made sense. Hanzo nodded in understanding, turning his attention away from the two to look for Angela. She hadn’t come over with them, she was still at the car. A small sense of panic started to rise in him; oh no had she forgotten? She closed the door, and started jogging toward them.

“Hurry it up!” Jesse called, waving his arm. To which Genji made a shush noise at him and a mumbled “tryin’ to sleep” statement.

Angela huffed once she had made it over there, staring Jesse down. “Was that neccesary?”

Jesse shrugged in response, leaning against the tree. She rolled her eyes at him, then turned her attention to Hanzo with a smile. She was dressed in a pretty white double-breasted fur coat with gold buttons, she took off black gloves to get into her purse. She looked like a modern day angel, really. Maybe her parents were rich; well she did say they were doctors.

She crouched down in front of Hanzo, handing him a plastic bag and speaking in a hushed voice. “Hey, got what you asked for, I guessed on the size so I hope it fits.”

Jesse wolf whistled at the interaction, “Damn, Angela, and here I thought you were a lesbian.” he looked to Fareeha, “You aware your girlfriend’s cheating on you?”

Fareeha near growled at him, and Angela slapped his arm. “Knock it off, will you! It’s none of your business.”

Hanzo stood while they argued, stuffing the bag into his coat and nodding to Angela in thanks before walking off toward the bathrooms. Jesse turned his attention away to watch him go, frowning in deep thought. He nudged Genji with his foot, who grunted in response.

“Come on, man, I didn’t get to sleep a lot last night…” he whined, making a blind shooing motion with his hand.

Jesse ignored the statement, “Somethin’ wrong with Hanzo?” he asked, “He always seems so upset.”

Genji yawned, flipping over on his back. “Just shy, don’t worry.” He was lying through his teeth, and Jesse was the only person there not in on it. Should he feel bad? Probably not, it was best not a lot of people knew.

Jesse knew, though. Knew there was more to it than that; there had to have been more to it. He didn’t like being out of the loop on it, but it was clear no one wanted to bring him into it. He knew what he had to do.

If no one else was going to do it, he had to go straight to the source.

* * *

Hanzo didn’t take the time to look at himself wearing the binder in the mirror, afraid someone might come in and see him. But he would admit it was a world more comfortable than restricting bandages. He hurriedly dressed himself again, zipping up his coat and leaving the bathroom to head back over to the tree. He saw Jesse walking toward him, not assuming much of it. What he wasn’t expecting was for the taller boy to grab his arm as he walked past, dragging him along with him.

Hanzo let out a startled squeak, but instead of fighting to get his arm free he went limp; letting Jesse take him. Jesse wasn’t bad, right? He couldn’t imagine him wanting to hurt Hanzo; but his mind was in a state of blind panic. Jesse stopped at the outside courtyard, sitting him down on a bench.

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, and you probably aren’t going to answer me, but I don’t like it when people keep secrets from me.” Jesse would realize later this came out a lot more threatening than he intended it to.

Hanzo didn’t register all that he was saying, but the words “hurt you” seemed to stick out, as well as the tone of voice. His eyes tried to look everywhere besides Jesse’s face, he looked at the ground, tried to see behind him; Jesse was blocking most his field of view, which only served to scare him more.

“Hey, you hear me? Hanzo?” Jesse said, shit had he scared him? He leaned forward a little to try and seem less intimidating; look smaller or something. “Hanzo?”

Hanzo didn’t like that, eyes widening more. Oh god Jesse was going to kill him; that was the only scenario that wanted to surface in his mind. Jesse was going to kill him; Fareeha had told him, she had told him and he knew. Serves him right for trusting someone he only knew the name of.

“Hey, buddy, I’m not g-” Jesse was cut off with a sharp grunt of pain.

Hanzo had punched him. He hadn’t realized what he’d done, sitting rigid with his arm still stretched out. Jesse had backed off, cupping a hand over his mouth and cursing silently in what sounded like Spanish. It took Hanzo a minute, and then he registered it, quickly putting his arm down and shrinking away. Jesse was staring at him now, and...he looked hurt; and it probably wasn’t from the sucker punch.

They stared at each other in total silence, Hanzo struggling to think of what to say. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t mean to do it, it was a reflex he didn’t even realize he had.

“I..I-I…” Hanzo stammered out, frozen in place.

The bell rang, and Hanzo took the opportunity to get out of there; getting up and running off in the direction of his first class. Jesse just watched him, not sure if he wanted to follow or not. Fareeha’s voice snapped him out of it.

“Forgot your b- what happened to you?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Jesse looked at her, “Uh, bit my lip.” he said, taking his bag and jogging off toward his classroom.

He and Hanzo didn’t speak for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter I'm going to focus a bit more on Jesse and explain his situation a little bit. I don't really know how long it'll take but I'll get there.


	5. Doo Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is pretty short, super sorry about that lmao!! Next one I'll try to make long to make up for the short chapters. Anyway just a look into Jesse's home life in this one.
> 
> No trigger warnings for this chapter.

Usually, Fareeha and Jesse walked home, but with the cold weather Ana had insisted they get a ride. Angela delivered, as she had that morning as well. Fareeha sat shotgun, Jesse taking the back. For once, Jesse was silent the way home. Normally he’d make a comment on the girls’ flirting, or be generally obnoxious, but he said absolutely nothing. It was almost concerning.

Fareeha unplugged her earphones long enough to take notice of it, turning around to look at him. He was sprawled out along the seat, legs perched up so his feet rested against the roof and his head against the door. It didn’t look particularly comfortable, but whatever made him happy she guessed.

“What’s your problem?” she asked.

Jesse shrugged, “Eh, just tired. Tryin’ to nap.”

“You do know we’re almost home, can’t you wait?” She continued, inwardly she was making a hypothesis on how many cramps he’d wake up with if he slept in that position for more than twenty minutes.

Another shrug; he wouldn’t look at her, focusing on a piece of hair he was twirling and untwirling around his finger. Fareeha decided she wasn't going to get anything out of him, turning her attention away from him to look outside instead. Angela stopped the car.

“Well, we’re here. Do you need me to pick you up tomorrow?” She said, looking to Jesse for answers, being the oldest of the two.

“Same as usual.” he said, straightening up and slinging his backpack on.

The Amari household (or Amari plus one, as Jesse liked to call it), was warm and welcoming. Ana strived for it to be, and her work paid off. Both she and Fareeha were clean and tidy as part of their personality traits, and the house didn’t usually get incredibly messy. It wasn't quite hospital clean, but it was near it.   

Until you got to Jesse’s room.

Jesse was the exact opposite, he didn’t know how to keep clean. It was too the point he forgot to shower sometimes; to which he’d be scolded on it the next day, but he never truly learned. It was this way with a lot of things.

His room looked like a bomb had gone off, clothes stacked everywhere but where they should be, food wrappers strewn along the floor and stuffed into out of the way niches, he had a dragon’s hoard of soda cans at this point. He was too lazy to make his bed, so it was always left as a bare dirty mattress with one pillow and a balled up blanket. God knows where his sheets had gone, he hadn’t seen them in what felt like years. When Fareeha was nine years old she went missing for three days, Ana was worried sick she had run away or gotten kidnapped. They found her trapped in Jesse's closet. Ana had given up long ago trying to get him to clean it; it was a royal mess and she didn’t even think anyone could clean it at this point.

The two mumbled a quick “hi mom” when they walked in, before going their separate ways to wind down from the school day. Jesse quickly shed everything but his undershirt and flopped onto his bed. He was still thinking about Hanzo. Jesus did that kid pack a punch, for one thing. More importantly, maybe he did get what he deserved: but that didn’t deter him from wanting to know what was going on. “Dumb dog”, that’s the nickname Fareeha had given him some time ago. In a way it was true, he’d get his foot in a bear trap sniffing in things he wasn’t supposed to and turn around to do it again when it had healed.

He let out a deep sigh, sitting back up and untangling his messy hair with his fingers. He was hungry, though that was a constant in his life. He navigated out the door and to the kitchen, years of practice had taught him how to get through is own mess without tripping. Ana was sitting at the table, a mug of tea in one hand and a book in the other. Jesse mumbled a hello to her as he walked in.

“Jesse, put some pants on.” she said, noting that he was still wearing nothing but a tank top and boxers.

“Sorry, ma, I’ll be out of your hair in a minute.” he mumbled, opening the fridge to inspect its contents.

Ana raised a brow at this, no joking comment, nothing? Something was up.

“What’s wrong?” she said, dog-earing the page of her book and putting it down in front of her.

“Hm? Nothin’s wrong.” he replied, “Jus’ tired.”

Ana shook her head, “No, something’s wrong. You act out of it.” she said, “Plus, your tongue is sticking out, which you only do when you’re worried or focusing.”

Jesse blinked, looking crosseyed down his nose. Huh, so he was. Did he always do that? He pulled his tongue back into his mouth, and continued his lie.

“Just somethin’ that happened at school, don’t worry about it.” he gave a half-hearted grin, a sharp contrast to his usual one.  

“I am worrying about it, tell me.” she said in a stern tone.

Jesse sighed in defeat, pulling a chair out and sitting down at the table with her. He worked over in his head how to get what he wanted to say out; last time didn’t work out so well. And while Ana wasn’t going to flip out and punch him, she did have a scalding tongue.

“You...know Genji, right?” He began.

She nodded, “Mmhm, the carrot haired boy, yes?”

He smirked a little at that, he knew he wasn’t the only one who made that connection. “Yeah, him.” He started strumming his fingers on the table while working out the next part. “He, uh...started bringing his brother to school with him...And he acts...scared of everything.”

“Scared of you? Didn’t think it was possible.” Ana said; Jesse was about as intimidating as a corgi. A large, overly friendly corgi.  

“Y-yeah, so uh...he’s about my age, and I have a few classes with him...So I tried to get to know him, you know? But he didn’t seem to want to talk to me. He uh, doesn’t talk to anyone really, actually.” Jesse realized he was sticking his tongue out again, but he didn’t care to fix it this time. “And, uh, like I said he acts scared of everything. And it feels like I’m the only one that doesn’t know why... So I tried to take him aside to talk to him about it today and he, uh…” He bit down on his tongue slightly. “He punched me in the gut.”

Ana didn't look surprised at this, simply giving a frown and raising a brow. “So you’re telling me you cornered a skittish child you just met and are surprised he punched you?”

Jesse frowned, “Well, I mean, when you put it that way.” he muttered, “M’ just...worried.”  

Ana sighed, god he could be so dense sometimes. She made a clicking noise with her tongue, holding her mug in both hands. “Jesse, tell me. Do you think this boy is cute?”

Jesse’s head snapped up to stare her in the eyes, his face slowly going red. “W-what? Ma, what are you talking about?” He stammered, this was exactly not where he thought this conversation was going.

“This boy, is he cute?” Ana repeated, “At least in your eyes?”

“No…? Well I mean, I guess maybe to someone else but. I mean I guess he’s...aesthetically pleasing..” He couldn’t form a coherent answer, still shocked at the sudden statement. Why would that matter? Why did she bring it up?

Jesse didn’t get it, but Ana nodded knowingly. She sat her mug down again, “You, Jesse, have a crush.”

His face turned even more red; a crush? That couldn’t be right...right? No she was just saying that, she didn’t know what she was talking about, she didn’t know the whole story. He had only skimmed the whole thing….she couldn’t know that, right?

“No, it’s...not a crush it’s just-” he started trying to defend himself, Ana put up her hand to shush him.

“Jesse, I’m your mother. I know you.” she said, “And I know that you’re lazy and don’t usually stick your neck out for things that aren’t your business.”

She paused long enough for Jesse to give a hurt “hey” back.

“Unless, you really care about whoever’s business it is.” she continued. “And considering you just met this boy, I think I can make a healthy guess.”

Jesse didn’t respond, thinking the statement over. It was true he was never able to decipher his own feelings, anything that wasn’t in your face positive was a mystery to him. It was to the point he didn’t even react to injuries very well. He could have a gash on his leg and not even notice it as anything other than an annoying ache until someone pointed it out to him. (Which, in fact, was a thing that had happened before.)

Did he have a crush? Possibly; he had really forgotten what it felt like considering he hadn’t had a crush since the 6th grade. He had scared that boy away, actually. Something about being overbearing and unable to properly express himself without looking like a fool.

“Alright, so say, hypothetically, I do.” Jesse drawled out, “What do you suggest I do, then?”

Ana tapped her finger against the wooden table, long blue painted nail making a soft clicking sound as it hit. “Apologize to him, first off. Back off a little, too. Worried or not, interrogating him isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Jesse gave a firm nod in understanding, signature big grin returning. “Thanks, ma.”

Ana picked her book back up, “Anytime. Also there’s leftover pasta on the top shelf.”

When she looked up again both Jesse and the aforementioned food was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading! Next chapter I'm going to try to compress into a longer chapter to make up for all the short ones.


	6. Ice Dogs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Since the semi hiatus chapter has been deleted with this update I'll just put it here.
> 
> I started community college classes and between that and other irl stuff I don't have a lot of time for writing, so updates will be slow for a while. I'll still be updating this fic just not as fast as I'd like to.
> 
> And with that, the new chapter! No trigger warnings here!

Crisp mornings were eerier in silence. Heartbreaking when you knew someone was avoiding you. Silent mornings, silent passing, and Hanzo was seated in the far corner as usual. He gave a suspicious squint when Jesse sat down next to him, as he had two days before. Jesse thought he might’ve heard a cat’s hiss.

Silent thoughts, neither of them spoke. Surprisingly, it was Hanzo that spoke up first.

“What do you want?” he snarled, his voice pure venom; dripping from fangs ready to strike.

Jesse didn’t know what he wanted, if he was being completely honest. He puffed his cheeks out, beginning to articulate himself.

“Listen...about yesterday…” Jesse started, turning to look at Hanzo. His expression matched the voice, he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone that angry in his life.

“You made yourself perfectly clear.” Hanzo cut him off, “I’d appreciate if you just left me be, I rather not start a fight in the middle of class.”

Hanzo went to focus on his notebook paper, pretending to be preoccupied on what was being taught. Jesse could tell he was faking, there was nothing but mindless scribbles on the paper. Unless he just had really bad handwriting, that could also be a possibility.

“I just...wanted to say I’m sorry.” he forced out, waiting for a reaction. There was none. He let out a large sigh. “And...uh, if you’re willing to forgive me-”

“In time.” Hanzo interrupted, no elaboration came, Jesse continued.

“Yeah uh, so when you forgive me. I’ve, uh, been told I don’t know my own strength. I guess that bleeds into other things…I’d really...like to try and get to know you better.” Was that too forward? He couldn’t tell.

Once again, silence. Jesse was about ready to give up. This was stupid, there was no use trying to get anywhere with this kid, was there? He shook his head, pushing his hair back out of his face.

“Nevermind, this is dumb...just keep doing what you’re doing, I’ll leave ya’ be.” Jesse finished, tapping his pencil against the desk.

The thick tension lingered between them for most of the period. Jesse kept his eye on the clock, five minutes to go and he’d never have to interact with Hanzo ever again. He felt bittersweet about it, well more bitter than sweet. There was another one that got away, how much of a colossal fuck up was he?

“I forgive you.”

The voice was soft, and Jesse almost didn’t hear it. But he did, and he flipped his head around to look in Hanzo’s direction. He was looking up at him, wearing a slightly softer expression. Still angry, but less so.

“What’s that?” Jesse said, making sure he had heard right.

“I said I forgive you,” Hanzo repeated, slightly louder, “If you truly didn’t mean to threaten me, then there’s no reason to hold a grudge.”

Jesse perked up at that, smiling, “Ya mean it?”

He received a curt nod in return; Hanzo was packing his things up for the passing period, so he didn’t look at him. The bell rang, Hanzo left without a goodbye. Jesse was over the moon, maybe he did have a chance after all?

“Jesse, class is over.” the teacher’s voice snapped him out of it, “Did you fall asleep again?”

He quickly packed his things, getting up and giving an apologetic noise, “Sorry, ma’am, won’t happen again.” He muttered, leaving as quickly as he could.

* * *

Angela had gotten Hanzo a doctor’s note for P.E, he didn’t know what she had written on it and a small portion of him worried he’d get caught; but he shoved that thought down. That being said, he basically had a free period.

Not knowing how else to spend it, he was camped out on the football bleachers. They were made so there was a flat platform next to the announcer’s box, and with no one to stop him he was free to spread himself out there. He had a book perched on his lap, something Genji had recommended him. Personally? He thought it was dull, but he wasn’t going to hurt Genji’s feelings.

The sound of footsteps caused him to tense up, snapping the book shut and preparing to leave before he got caught. He relaxed when Jesse appeared, remembering he had a free period this hour as well. He pressed himself back up against the wall, watching Jesse cautiously.

Jesse looked surprised to see him there, raising a brow. “Thought you had a class?”

Hanzo shook his head, “P.E, I have a doctor’s note…”

“Fair enough.”

Jesse plopped down next to him with a grunt, he dug around in his bag, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He took one out for himself and offered the box to Hanzo. Hanzo shook his head,

“That’s a nasty habit, you know.”

Jesse shrugged, taking the box and putting it away before lighting his own.

“Eh, yeah, my body.” he replied, attempting to brush the comment off.

“Does Angela know about this?” Hanzo eyed the pocket where the box had disappeared into.

Jesse snorted in return, “Oh god, she’d probably have a heart attack.”

Hanzo gave a mixed shrug/nod motion, not sure how to respond to the statement or further the conversation. He watched the smoke rise from Jesse’s cigarette for a minute before the smell hit him and he had to cover his nose in disgust.

Jesse realized how awkward the situation probably was. Hanzo had already just forgiven him, if he even was telling the truth. He might’ve just been saying that to get Jesse off his ass. He looked over at Hanzo; dear god did he always have such a harsh stare?  

“I can, uh, leave if you want me to.” Jesse muttered, already picking up his bag.

“Stay.” came the response, more of a command. That was a little unexpected, but Jesse understood and dropped it.

Hanzo might as well have still been mad at him with the way he was acting. Huddled in his coat, the strap of his bag gripped tightly in his fist as if he might have to make a run for it at any given moment. Jesse was the polar opposite, lounging against the railing, eyes half lidded, seemingly not a care in the world.

Internally Jesse was working in overdrive. Was this okay? Was he doing something wrong? Was the comment about the cigarette a hint he didn’t take? And the thing with Jesse was, when he was nervous, he talked. And talked, and talked, and talked…

“So uh, what’re your parents like? Genji doesn’t talk about them a lot.” Probably not the best or most casual thing to start a conversation out on, but it was the first thing that came to his mind.

“Not your business.” It was odd, Hanzo seemed nicer to be around when he was terrified of sudden movements.

Jesse, not wanting to upset him, just nodded. “S’pose it isn’t.” He laughed a little to himself, “I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few days, you punched me in one of them, and here I am talking like we’re on our three month anniversary going to meet the parents.” He didn’t expect any response to his joke, and he didn’t get one, so he carried on. “Though, I mean I’m willing to share if you are?”

Hanzo didn’t voice if he wanted it, but he was visibly interested. His grip loosened on the messanger bag, and his expression went slightly from resting bitch face to a confused look. What was he hoping to get out of this, Hanzo wondered.

“Well, I'm adopted. Fareeha told you that. Uh, it’s just our mom...I guess her mom, she’s the biological child. I’m just sort of...there.” Jesse wasn’t sure why he was bringing it up, he always had a weird guilt complex over being adopted. He had never really talked about it to anyone, maybe he was just tired of bottling it up, and he really did like Hanzo, he wanted Hanzo to trust him.

“Just sort of there?” Hanzo asked, confused at the odd statement.

“Yeah, uh, I was adopted when I was like. 12. I never really grew up with her, my mom that is.” Jesse’s mood sombered a little, “I guess my actual parents just dropped me off at a foster home, far as I remember I just bounced around different places for a while.” A half-hearted smirk crossed his face, “I guess she just felt sorry for me, older kids don’t usually get adopted...She didn’t have any reason to, already had Fareeha. Single mom, works her ass off.”

Why was he sharing all this with Hanzo? He wasn’t sure. He had intended for a lighthearted chat, “parents are dumb they make me do chores” that kind of thing. Though it was completely on him, Hanzo hadn’t said a word throughout his mindless rambling.

“Sometimes…” Jesse continued, “I feel like I’m this burden. My actual parents didn’t want me, foster homes didn’t want me, all I do is cause mom pain and hard work...But, you don’t want to hear all this, do ya’?”

“...You’re lucky she cares about you so much.” Hanzo whispered, Jesse noticed his eyes were glossed over like he was about to cry. “Don’t beat yourself up, she took you in for a reason. You did nothing wrong, okay? She loves you.”

Jesse was taken aback by how serious Hanzo sounded. He was so insistent, as if his words were fact of god. He had never even met Ana and he acted like he had known her for years and was there to reassure Jesse of his insecurities, which he had also known about for years.

It was slightly startling, but Jesse nodded. He noticed Hanzo starting to shake a little, and internally panicked.

“You...you okay there?” he said, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

The bell rang, and Hanzo stood up abruptly. He left without a word or explanation, and also left Jesse with more questions than answers.


	7. Sorry, guys

Sorry guys I think I've lost interest in this fic. I started losing interest around the time my semi hiatus on this started and now I don't even remember how I as going to end it. 

I also kind of headcanon familial-type relationships (especially with McCree) differently than what I wrote this now and I don't feel like rewriting, since it changes a lot.

I didn't have an outline to this but if you were curious on what my plans with this story was supposed to go is eventually Hanzo's homelife escalated, McCree found out (along with some others like Angela), and Hanzo got like, adopted I guess? By either Reinhardt and Torbjorn or Angela's parents. I didn't have anything in stone I expected I'd figure it out when I got there, and I never really did.

Sorry for the disappointment, and thank you to all who did enjoy this story while it lasted! It really means a lot to me that so many people enjoyed this, since I don't write a lot and when I do I don't get a lot of attention.

I'll probably be writing some other one-shot Overwatch fics in the future if you'd like to keep up with me for that! But for now, there will be no more multichapters.


End file.
